


the story grows a little longer

by greyskieslatenights, nokchaa



Series: jundong office!au [2]
Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Eventual Romance, M/M, Office Sex, feat. seventeen on occasion, this is not pwp but there will be sex you have been WARNED
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:49:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18055415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyskieslatenights/pseuds/greyskieslatenights, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nokchaa/pseuds/nokchaa
Summary: When your new secretary is an oldflamefriend, things can go a little sideways.(Guess that’s what Junhoe gets for not screening the applicants himself.)





	the story grows a little longer

**Author's Note:**

> we're baaaaack~ with a jundong office!au that's literally been decaying in gdrive for four years.
> 
> but we are BACK AT IT with more emotionally constipated junhoe, this time featuring donghyuk the sexy new secretary and cameos from long-suffering second-in-command kim jinhwan, underpaid intern jung chanwoo, and some of your other faves... with a twist!
> 
> ((this is not your average boss and secretary porn fic. but there will be porn. you have been warned))
> 
> title is from [fragments of memories](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F62A4BFr0Ss) by nano!

“ _Jung Chanwoo_!”

The door to Junhoe’s office opens loudly, narrowed eyes scanning the room for the poor intern with the misfortune of messing up the latest report. He is eventually found trying to hide behind the assistant manager – a futile endeavor, since said assistant manager is a head shorter.

“Before you say anything, I approved Chanwoo’s draft report,” Jinhwan says, perfectly calm and even before Junhoe can so much as get a word out of his mouth.

“If you reviewed it,” Junhoe grumbles, shaking the folder menacingly in Jinhwan’s face, “then _why_ did I just get it back from the finance department saying that the numbers are off?”

Jinhwan just sighs. “Because you were also supposed to review it, _Mr. Koo_.”

Jinhwan drawls the last two syllables – Junhoe has to fight a very strong urge to roll his eyes. Instead, his eyes narrow, holding the folder up higher so it’s level with Chanwoo’s face.

“Fix your numbers, Chanwoo. We’ll talk after this.”

Chanwoo takes the folder from Junhoe, eyes averted. “Yes, sir,” he replies, giving a quick half-bow before scurrying out of the office.

Junhoe lets out a loud groan as he stalks over to his desk and plops himself down in his chair. “ _Christ._ Jinhwan-hyung, I have about a thousand reports to review at any given time, there’s no fuckin’ way I’d be able to check the specific numbers from that last report. Who was that even for?”

“SVT Energy Skincare,” Jinhwan chirps, not missing a single beat.

“What the _fuck_.” Junhoe kind of wants to die a little bit inside, not for the first time. “God, look at all of this,” he whines, gesturing at the overflowing _For Review_ tray on his desk. “I have to read the whole report, too, because some dumbasses are incapable of writing proper memos.”

Jinhwan sighs. “I know, June-yah.”

Junhoe reaches for one at the top of the pile ( _B.I, Be.You,_ it says, and Junhoe wonders what idiot is coming up with all these company names these days) and starts to skim through the memo. He sure as hell doesn’t want to do this, but the reports aren’t going to read and approve themselves.

“Anyway,” Jinhwan says, perching himself on the armrest of the chair across from Junhoe, “there’s actually a reason I came in here besides trying to make sure you didn’t murder Chanwoo.”

“What is it?” Junhoe asks, only half-listening.

“You have interviews for your new secretary tomorrow.”

Junhoe’s mind screeches to a stop, hands frozen halfway through turning a page. “Interviews?”

Jinhwan sighs resignedly, as if he’d already been expecting this.

“Yes, June. Interviews. You haven't had a proper secretary in a month–”

“And you're doing such an amazing job, I really don't need one–”

“I am overworked and underpaid given the fact that I’m essentially working two jobs,” Jinhwan cuts in, not missing a single beat. “Besides, I did all the hard work for you. I put out the job listing and did an initial screening. You'll be interviewing ten people tomorrow.”

“ _Ten_?”

“Junhoe, don't even get me started on how many people I had to weed through to _get_ to those ten. You don't get to complain. Your interviews start at 4 PM.”

Junhoe sighs heavily. Jinhwan’s right, of course – the poor guy’s been working massive overtime since Junhoe’d fired his last secretary for what he considered gross incompetence (Jinhwan maintains she quit because Junhoe got too scary when he was serious). His department had been so busy with a major project that it would have been even more of a hassle to hire someone new than to have Jinhwan take over the position.

If Junhoe’s going to be honest, he kind of likes the way things are now. He's the closest to Jinhwan in the company, and the older man knows him well. They work together seamlessly – Junhoe doesn't need to worry about watching himself around Jinhwan, because he knows the elder won't take it personally, and Jinhwan is so good at his work in general that Junhoe knows he can trust Jinhwan without having to constantly keep an eye on him.

But Junhoe’s not soulless. He’s seen the tired look on Jinhwan’s face day in and day out (it mirrors his own, but it shouldn't – he’s the boss. There's a reason he should be more tired), and since their recent project has come to a close, he no longer has a real excuse _not_ to hire a new secretary.

Jinhwan puts a small stack of manila folders on Junhoe’s desk, a bright purple sticky note labeled _SECRETARY APPLICANT PROFILES_ stuck on the topmost one. “Please,” he says, as he moves to exit the office, “don't scare them all off. I might just quit if you do.”

Junhoe’s not sure if he wants to try calling Jinhwan’s bluff.

*

Predictably, however, Junhoe proceeds to promptly forget all about the upcoming interviews by the time he gets back to his apartment, and the stack of folders on his desk goes ignored in favor of new paperwork that comes in the next morning.

At 3:45 PM, Junhoe’s office door opens. He looks up, ready to berate the intruder for not knocking, but settles for a disgruntled look once he realizes it’s Jinhwan.

“You forgot all about the interviews, didn’t you.”

It’s a statement, not a question, and surprisingly not accusatory in the slightest.

Junhoe sighs. “Fuck.”

“I knew it.” A hint of a sad smile settles on Jinhwan’s lips, and Junhoe kind of feels bad for the guy, knowing that he tends to be the cause for those feelings.

“Come on,” Jinhwan says, picking up the pile of folders from where he’d left them the day before. “I’ve prepped Conference Room C for you to hold the interviews – I thought your personal office might be a little too intimate and potentially intimidating.”

Junhoe follows Jinhwan out of his office and down the hall obediently (sometimes he wonders who’s really the one calling the shots around here), stopping in front of the conference room.

Jinhwan hands Junhoe the files. “Please at least attempt to scan them before I start sending people in to see you.” He shoots Junhoe a pleading glance before leaving, presumably to the room where the applicants are.

Glancing at his phone, Junhoe realizes he only has about one minute to read each applicant’s file before Jinhwan starts bringing people in – and knowing Jinhwan, he will begin punctually.

With a tired exhale, Junhoe enters the conference room, settling himself at the head of the table and opening up the first folder.

_Kang Jinhee, 27. Graduated from Hanyang University…_

Junhoe only gets through four of the folders before he hears the sound of the doorknob turning. Hastily, he checks his reflection on his phone to make sure he doesn’t look too disheveled and clears his throat as Jinhwan leads the first interviewee in.

“Kang Jinhee-ssi?” Junhoe says, mentally thanking Jinhwan for having the foresight to give all the interviewees nametags.

“Yes, that's me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview for the position.”

“Oh, it's, uh, no trouble at all,” Junhoe replies. Already, he's trying to mentally prepare himself for nine more people trying to suck up to him to get a job.

Already, he really wants a drink.

 

*

As Junhoe had expected, there's nothing _wrong_ with Kang Jinhee, or any of the other eight candidates he's interviewed so far that afternoon. Jinhwan had done his job well; all of the interviewees were bright, organized and impeccably polite.

The problem is that none of them are _right_ , either. Junhoe thinks he'd probably go insane if he had to spend more than an hour with any of them.

“June-yah, you need to cool it,” Jinhwan chastises after the ninth applicant has left the room. “That girl was holding back tears.”

Junhoe looks at the assistant manager with tired eyes. “Hyung, you know as well as I do I'm not doing anything different with these people.”

“You’re starting to lose your patience, and we both know how you get when that happens. Whoever we hire is going to have to handle that, but we can't afford to _not_ hire a secretary. _I_ can't afford it, June. You will hire at least one of these people or so help me god–” Jinhwan finishes his sentence with a loud sigh. “Look. There’s one more person left, and then we can all go home. Please keep it together, okay?”

Junhoe feels very much like a scolded child. “Okay.”

Jinhwan puts a professional smile on his face and turns to bring in the final candidate. Junhoe picks up the last folder and has just opened it when he hears a startlingly familiar voice.

“Hello, I'm–”

“Kim Donghyuk.”

Junhoe blurts out the name before his brain catches up to him. Neither Jinhwan nor Donghyuk look surprised at this – Junhoe is mildly offended and makes a mental note to ask Jinhwan about this later.

“Koo Junhoe,” Donghyuk replies easily. “It’s been a while.”

“Like, six fucking years?” Junhoe grumbles to himself, already forgetting the fact that he's supposed to be professional. He gives Donghyuk a once-over, the man before him too familiar yet too unfamiliar at the same time.

Donghyuk cracks a soft smile. “Something like that, yeah.”

“Why are you here? I thought you would've been some hotshot by now, after you went to America and all that.”

“You haven't changed one bit, June-yah,” Donghyuk chuckles. “I'm assuming you didn't read my application?”

“Nope.”

“To make it brief, I've been working around a few years but I've felt like my previous position was somewhat of a dead end. I wanted to try something new.”

“And your ‘something new’ is working as a secretary?” Junhoe raises an eyebrow skeptically. “You do realize this is far below your skillset. I don't even need to read your resume to know that.”

“Don't be stupid, June, if I didn't know that then why would I have applied?”

“... I don’t know.”

Donghyuk laughs, a soft, familiar sound. “I think I can provide more than adequate work for you. And judging by how the last candidates seemed to look as they were leaving, you're out of options.”

 _Dammit._ Donghyuk had always been good at reading Junhoe – but then again, Jinhwan always says he's an open book.

“Besides, why not hire me? I have the credentials, for sure, and I know we can work well together, June-yah.”

Donghyuk has an infuriating, impish grin on his face now, like he knows he's won. But then there’s a long pause, and Junhoe’s pretty sure he's got a weird facial expression going on because Donghyuk’s smile starts to fade.

“Am I wrong?” His voice is much quieter now, and Junhoe knows this tone well – while Donghyuk had always been insanely smart and naturally gifted, he was notorious for constantly second-guessing himself.

“Uh,” Junhoe says intelligently. “Lemme just,” he starts, trying to think of something to say to salvage the situation. To no one’s surprise, he comes up with nothing.

Junhoe’s cell phone phone rings suddenly, startling him – he’d thought he’d put it on silent for the interviews. He glances at the screen to see who it is, and grimaces when he sees it’s a particularly pushy client who he’s been trying to put off speaking to for ages.

In the blink of an eye, Donghyuk’s already picked it up from the table. “Hello, this is Koo Junhoe’s secretary speaking. How may I help you?”

Junhoe sits, dumbfounded, as Donghyuk apparently manages to placate the client in kind yet firm tones, despite knowing absolutely nothing about what had been going on.

“We’ll contact you as soon we can,” Donghyuk says. “Thank you for calling.” He sets Junhoe’s phone back down onto the table and looks expectantly at Junhoe.

“Yes. Um. You’re hired and you start tomorrow at 8 AM.”

“Oh!” Donghyuk exclaims, eyes widening from behind his glasses. _Glasses. When did he start wearing those again? It’s a good look on him –_ “I didn’t actually expect that to work.”

Junhoe shrugs. “Well, I didn’t expect to actually hire anyone, so looks like we both got a surprise today. Please show up tomorrow, it’d be a shame to have to fire you already.”

“Do we, um, need to discuss logistics or anything?” Donghyuk asks, “like, where my desk is going to be?”

“Jinhwan,” Junhoe says intelligently. “He knows everything. I’m going to, uh, go back to my office now. Emails and stuff. Very important. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Donghyuk looks at him, one eyebrow very slightly raised, but says nothing more than “all right, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Junhoe gives him a curt nod, rises from his chair and proceeds to knock his leg against the table as he tries to exit the room as swiftly as possible. He doesn’t need to turn back around to know that Donghyuk and/or Jinhwan are laughing at him.

_God. Kim Donghyuk._

If there’s one man Junhoe thought he’d never see again, it would probably be Donghyuk.

Junhoe doesn’t let himself relax until after he’s returned to the privacy of his own office; the tension in his shoulders dissipates after the door clicks shut.

He then proceeds to do an Extremely Adult thing – he throws himself face-down on his sofa and lets out a soft scream into the leather cushions.

 

*

If Junhoe is to be completely honest with himself, he’s not entirely sure that Donghyuk will be at the office when he arrives the following morning. He’s not the most well-acquainted with the hiring process, but he figures that there’s usually some sort of other processing and paperwork to be done.

And yet, when Junhoe strides onto his floor at 8:10 AM the next morning, there is none other than one Kim Donghyuk seated at the desk where his old secretary used to be.

“Um,” Junhoe says by way of greeting as he passes by. “Morning.”

Donghyuk looks up at him, neutral expression quickly shifting into a sunny grin. “Morning.”

Junhoe nods in acknowledgement, fully intending to continue on his way into his office where he will proceed to shut himself away for the next eight to twelve hours, but something stops him.

He’s not quite sure why, but the end effect is that he’s standing silently in front of Donghyuk’s desk, face set in a neutral (but always slightly angry-looking) expression.

“... Can I help you?” Donghyuk prods gently.

Junhoe flinches, startled. “Did Jinhwan tell you what you’re supposed to be doing today?”

“Sort of,” Donghyuk replies. “He forwarded me your scheduler and a list of tasks to be scheduled, which I’ve been organizing for the past,” he glances at his computer screen. “... fifteen minutes.”

“Ah.” Junhoe finds himself at a loss for anything else to say. “Um. When you finish that, come see me in my office.”

“Noted.”

Junhoe stays there a moment more, then strides quickly into his office, where he sinks down onto his leather sofa with a sigh.

What is _wrong_ with him? He’s usually not _this_ awkward. Granted, he usually ignored his secretaries unless he actually needed something from them, and he wasn’t familiar with them at all out of the office, but still.

A knock on the door sounds; Junhoe groans, forcing himself to get up and sit down behind his desk.

“Come in,” he says, once he’s made sure he looks presentable enough.

The door opens, revealing Donghyuk. “You asked me to come in once I finished the scheduling,” he says, as if Junhoe forgot.

(Junhoe kind of did forget.)

“Right,” Junhoe mutters. “Take a seat. Sofa’s fine, or here.” He gestures to one of the chairs directly in front of his desk.

Predictably, Donghyuk chooses the latter. Junhoe doesn’t know how to feel about this. Honestly, he’s not even 100% sure why he even asked Donghyuk to come into his office anyway.

“So,” Junhoe finally says, “I guess we should probably figure out how all this is going to work.”

Donghyuk nods.

“We could start with the schedule, I guess. Weekly briefs of what’s new and what’s coming up.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’m assuming Jinhwan-hyung set you up with the computers and stuff? Company phone and tablet?”

“I have the email and desktop set up but they’re still working on the phone and iPad. I’ll probably have them tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re probably gonna want to have either the phone or the iPad on you at all times,” Junhoe sighs. “This job has a way of demanding your attention when you least want it to. Hope you don’t have much of a social life.”

Donghyuk lets out a dry laugh. “I’ve been able to keep a pretty decent handle on my social life thus far, so I’m sure I’ll be able to figure something out.”

 _So how_ is _that going for you?_ Junhoe almost asks, grateful that for once in his life he’s able to keep his mouth shut.

“Right,” he ends up saying instead. “Do you have any questions so far? How are you settling in?”

“It’s been an hour, Junhoe,” Donghyuk replies, “I’d say I’m settling in about as well as can be expected.”

“Oh. Right.”

A brief flicker of something Junhoe can’t quire identify flashes across Donghyuk’s face. “Hey. Is everything okay? I know we haven’t spoken in years, but I’d like to think I can still think of you as a friend.”

“Friend?” Junhoe mulls over the word. Donghyuk’s right – it is kind of hard to figure out what to call someone who you haven’t spoken with in over half a decade.

“Yeah, Junhoe, _friend._ You know, people who like each other, talk, hang out.” A trace of dry sarcasm laces through Donghyuk’s words.

“Bold of you to assume I like you,” Junhoe grumbles.

Donghyuk just laughs. “Oh, June-yah, I know you like me.”

Junhoe doesn’t know what to say to that.

“I’ll leave you to your work now,” Donghyuk says, before Junhoe can even think of a response. He rises from his seat and makes for the door. “I think HR is arranging a tour of the floor for me, or something like that.”

“That… sounds about normal,” Junhoe replies. He has no idea if that’s actually normal or not. “I’ll see you, then.”

“I’ll be sure to let you know if anything happens,” Donghyuk replies.

“On your tour of the floor? I doubt it.”

“No, Junhoe. Work things.”

“Oh. Right. Work.” Donghyuk _is_ supposed to be his secretary, after all.

“You do have a meeting at 10 with Haute Hoon.”

“God _dammit_ ,” Junhoe sighs, eyes darting over his desk to try and find the files he needs. “Normally I’d ask you why you haven’t prepped my files yet, but you only just got here today, so.”

“I’ll forward you what I can find once I get back to my desk,” Donghyuk says, giving a quarter bow before he steps out of the office, door closing with a soft _click_ behind him.

Not two minutes later does a _New Message_ notification pop up on his computer; as promised, Donghyuk’s sent him a .zip file of documents.

Junhoe’s a little terrified. Donghyuk’s been here for all of about an hour and a half - Junhoe’s been here in some form for nearly half a decade and he’s still not sure how their computer filing system works sometimes.

He checks the clock, jumping to his feet when he realizes it’s 9:50 and he’s got to run to the other end of the hall. He grabs the files and his iPad, shoving them both under his arm as he rushes out of his office.

“Conference Room B,” Donghyuk calls after him as Junhoe speed-walks down the corridor.

(It’s only after Junhoe enters the meeting room with a minute to spare that he realizes that he actually hadn’t known where to go until Donghyuk had told him.

 _Terrifying._ )

 

*

After the meeting and an excruciatingly long conference call with some clients in Shenzhen, Junhoe’s just about ready to take a nap. After everything that had gone on in the morning, he’d forgotten to get himself his morning coffee and he can feel himself about to crash.

There are two light knocks on his door, followed by Donghyuk poking his head in.

“Junhoe,” Donghyuk says, “there’s a… delivery for you.”

“Huh?”

“Mr. Kim dropped this off at my desk,” Donghyuk elaborates, opening the door wider and revealing a white plastic bag. “Said it was for you.”

“ _Mr. Kim?_ ” Junhoe asks. They work with about a thousand other Korean people – how the hell is he supposed to know who it’s from?

“I think it’s your lunch?”

“Oh, you mean Jinhwan-hyung,” Junhoe beckons Donghyuk to enter. “Yeah. He thinks if he doesn’t have lunch delivered to me every day then I’ll forget to eat or something.”

“Is he right, though?” Donghyuk sets the plastic bag on the coffee table in front of Junhoe’s sofa.

Junhoe shrugs. “Kinda? I mean, sure, maybe I forget sometimes and then binge on ramyun before I go to sleep, but doesn’t everyone?”

“Depends how often this happens,” Donghyuk says dryly. “Was it more than once a week?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I think Mr. Kim is right.”

Junhoe glowers at Donghyuk. “First of all, don’t call him Mr. Kim. That’s just weird. Secondly, I take care of myself just fine!”

“Well, until he tells me otherwise, he’s ‘Mr. Kim’ to me. And the list of tasks that I’m supposed to manage for you every day suggests otherwise,” Donghyuk chuckles, “but sure, Junhoe. I’ll leave you to your lunch.”

“Wait,” Junhoe blurts out.

Donghyuk pauses. “Yeah?”

Damn Junhoe’s mouth for getting ahead of his brain again. “Do you want to, I don’t know, eat lunch together? Catch up?”

There’s a moment of silence in which Junhoe is sure Donghyuk is about to politely reject his offer, but then Donghyuk blinks and in a slightly hesitant voice says “okay, sure, just let me get my lunch”, before bowing slightly and ducking out the door.

Junhoe lets out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding when his office door closes behind Donghyuk, busying himself with taking out his lunch while waiting for Donghyuk to return. He has just begun stirring his jajangmyeon when there are two soft knocks at his door again, followed by Donghyuk stepping into his office with a brown paper bag.

“What’d you get?” Junhoe asks as Donghyuk drags a chair over to sit opposite him on the sofa.

“Just brought something from home,” Donghyuk replies, setting down his bag on the coffee table and pulling out a plastic container. “Old habits die hard. It’s cheaper, too.”

“You made it?”

Donghyuk laughs. “Not really. Bought most of the banchan at the supermarket and I just keep some in the fridge.”

“Ah.”

Silence follows, borne from a combination of a desire to eat and a lack of knowing what to say. Junhoe really needs to start thinking things through more before he makes decisions.

He’s halfway through his bowl of noodles when Donghyuk says, “you remember Seungcheol-hyung?”

Junhoe’s reminded of a doe-eyed, long-lashed upperclassman from university who never seemed to act his age. “I think so. What about him?”

“He and Jihoon-hyung finally got together.”

“ _No_ ,” Junhoe’s eyes widen in disbelief. Donghyuk chuckles at his response without even looking up at him from his lunch. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah, I caught up with Cheol-hyung a few months ago. They haven’t been together very long, actually.”

“No shit,” Junhoe scoffs. “They just kept skirting around each other for _ever_. Their UST was so thick you could probably throw a shoe at it and you’d hit something.”

“ _June!_ ” Donghyuk half-admonishes, half-laughs.

“Tell me I'm wrong,” Junhoe challenges.

Donghyuk pauses, chewing on a mouthful of spinach. “You're not.”

Junhoe grins, but then there’s silence again. There’s about a thousand things that Junhoe could ask or say, but his mind won’t get itself together enough to pick one thing to actually say.

“You know,” Donghyuk finally says, and Junhoe looks up at him briefly to see him picking at his banchan. “They asked about you. Cheol-hyung and Jihoon-hyung.”

“Huh,” Junhoe remarks, chewing on a piece of pickled radish. “What did they ask?”

Donghyuk shrugs. Junhoe watches him push around the kimchi in his container. “Just normal stuff. What you’ve been up to after we graduated and all that.”

“So… what did you tell them?”

A brief pause. “Nothing.”

Junhoe’s eyebrows furrow. “Why?”

He can’t quite place Donghyuk’s expression, but it’s weirdly unsettling. “Junhoe, I hadn’t seen you in years at that point. What was I supposed to tell them? All I knew was that you were going to start working at your family’s company after graduation.”

“Oh.” As usual, Donghyuk’s right – he couldn’t have expected Donghyuk to tell their old university acquaintances anything about him. After they’d graduated from university, their formerly daily conversations had become more and more infrequent until one day they just stopped entirely.

As much as he’s loathe to admit it, they’d basically become strangers to each other.

Junhoe’s about to say something, but Donghyuk beats him to the punch. “I need to get back to my desk,” he says, packing his lunch container back into his bag. “I’ll see you later.”

He’s out the door before Junhoe can get a single word in; Junhoe slouches against the sofa as the door closes, feeling oddly defeated.

Junhoe had thought that hiring someone he already knew would make his life easier, but it seems like it might just make his life exponentially more difficult.

**Author's Note:**

> we promise we'll come back with the next chapter faster than yg will give lee hi a comeback.
> 
> come catch us on twitter, even tho yve is DEAD on it: [em](https://twitter.com/loverikonic) | [yve](https://twitter.com/koojunes_)


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